Formation, thermal, optical and physical properties of GeS₂–Ga₂S₃–AgCl novel chalcohalide glasses

Novel GeS₂–Ga₂S₃–AgCl chalcohalide glasses had been prepared by melt-quenching technique, and the glass-forming region was determined by XRD, which indicated that the maximum of dissolvable AgCl was up to 65 mol%. Thermal and optical properties of the glasses were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Visible-IR transmission, which showed that most of GeS₂–Ga₂S₃–AgCl glasses had strong glass-forming ability and broad region of transmission (about 0.45–12.5 μm). With the addition of AgCl, the glass transition temperature, Tg decreases distinctly, and the short-wavelength cut-off edge (λ_vis) of the glasses also shifts to the long wavelength gradually. However, the glass-forming ability of the glass has a complicated evolutional trend depended on the compositional change. In addition, the values of the Vickers microhardness, H _v , which decrease with the addition of AgCl, are high enough for the practical applications. These excellent properties of GeS₂–Ga₂S₃–AgCl glasses make them potentially applied in the optoelectronic field, such as all-optical switch, etc.